Topical therapies are often not considered for illnesses and other conditions in Western
medicine. The skin, while acknowledged as the body's largest organ, is not generally considered a pathway to healing
for things like chronic pain, viral infections, long standing disharmonies and issues of many varieties. Traditional
Chinese medicine, however, does use topical treatment for most of these things in the form of acupuncture. Acupuncture
stimulates points in the skin that then work on the electrical pathways of the nerves and muscles, moving through obstructions
and deep into the body to create a positive climate for healing. It turns out that topical applications of herbs and
flower essences work in the same manner, moving through multiple channels in the body to effect change. Many are familiar
with things like salves, and certainly face cream! When you use real ingredients to influence the body toward a healing goal,
however, more can happen than you might expect, without complications and side effects that so often accompany pharmaceutical
remedies. You can accomplish more for yourself than an illusion of glamour by using creams on your skin: You can
create balance, harmony, and lasting results. It is certainly worth a try.

January 16, 2013

Another year has begun, and it is ever more important to pay attention to maintaining proper
health and energy. A large part of what pain is, what symptoms are when we don't feel well, is that they are a message to us from our bodies and inner selves. Often when we are in pain or unwell,
we resist and fight the situation instead of viewing it as a situation to be investigated by us. Things like germs and
external influences that don't pass through us or get dealt with by our immune systems may lodge in our bodies and cause disharmony.
In the simplest terms, this makes it crucially important to stop and pay attention when we feel things "coming on",
whatever their nature may be. Any physician, therapist, healer, or other health practitioner can walk with you
over the terrain of your discomfort and give you the benefit of their knowledge and experience. You, however, are yourself
largely responsible for the efficacy of the treatment since the attitude with which you approach it is key. If, for
example, you expect to be rid of your issues from completely outside of yourself, from a pill or whatever another person "does"
for you, your changes of success are probably about 50/50. The body does tend to heal itself, given the chance.
You can optimize this process, however, by simply investigating what is going on with you and turning your attention to it
on the inside, as it were. Address your thinking about whatever is going on, and gradually work on lessening reactivity
and fear. This is immeasurably helpful in dealing with pain, for example. The remedies we provide here
assist with that process, as we've discussed before, through their chemistry and electromagnetic properties. Modern medicines
can work miracles, as we know, but they are not always the most appropriate tool for the job. The knowledge and awareness
that has been with us since the beginning of human life about what are now called "natural remedies" is still
a profound source of support. You can start a dynamic trend, say, with your poor overused tennis elbow. By using
phyto- and energetic elements, such as what we provide here, you can not only begin to relieve the discomfort in the
area, and clean the congestion from the overall disharmony in the specific area, but also in your own mind and being.
This can allow you to make changes in how you do things that can contribute to greater overall well being, and often to a
great degree of healing. Simplicity and patience are big keys that are well worth picking up and investigating.

August 3, 2012

In today's world, we are surrounded by electromagnetic waves to an astonishing
degree. Not only are we subject to solar and planetary electromagnetism, but now we are surrounded by short waves, infrared
transmissions, cel phone and computer emissions to a degree that should cause us to think about protecting our own internal
electronics. We are energetic beings, and electromagnetics keep us moving and living. When excess stress is placed
on our internal energetic system, by overexposure to powerlines, overuse of cellular phones, plane travel, and things of that
nature, we can begin to see disharmonies begin. We might not even realize what is happening in our bodies since these
emissions are invisible, and we can't necessarily feel them in the moment.

Flower essences and essential oils are extremely effective in maintaining the body's electromagnetic
balance and repairing the internal "grid" where it has been frayed. This action can take place because the
frequencies of the essences and the oils interact with the body's frequencies to bring healing and balance. Even long
standing chronic issues can be aided by the use of these energetic intermediaries.

Our products address maintenance and repair of the individual electromagnetic grid in general
because, essentially, everything depends on it, but we also have customized formulas for these issues as well. If you
work in an environment with a lot of computer and telephone equipment, artificial light, or are a frequent flier, or if you
are out doors in the sun often, topical application of an electromagnetically oriented remedy can be important in maintaining
your balance and health. Preventive care is a
tremendously important focus for all of us, and the consistent use of flowers and essential oils has been shown to aid the
entire system in maintaining integrity and strong immune functioning. Future newsletters will address this subject,
so sign up for them if you haven't already, and if you are interested in addressing strengthening your own power grid, don't
hesitate to contact us!

September 23, 2011

Healing is something you do yourself, not something
someone does to you. You learn by doing; for example, figuring out what you can and should eat can take some time.
A regimen of supplements may not be required for ever, but be helpful in specific time frames as well as being brought back
from time to time. Treatments and supplements strengthen the system and aid in healing and overall improvementbut in the final analysis you have to pay attention
and take the time to keep yourself in equilibrium. It also means understanding where your own personal excesses and
deficiencies are systemically and working with those elements in a spirit of curiosity rather than judgement or fear.
Dropping the resistance we all have to difficulty may be the most important thing you can do. Resistance is a somewhat
natural response, but it is also the accretion of all the opinions you've heard and learned to hold. Taking the time
to really look at where you are, what is happening, what the real meaning of it is, is crucial to beginning a process of improvement
in any endeavor, not just healing. One often hears that "unlearning" old habits is important. What I
think that means is this. When you are young, what you learn and hear is largely other people's opinions about how things
are. The task is to leave off thinking that such a built up set of ideas is the actual truth, and to move into finding
your own truth, holding to a standard that includes investigation, curiosity, honesty and however much freedom from fear you
can muster.

July 4, 2011

I've
been reading Elif Shafak's book THE FORTY RULES OF LOVE. Here is a quote from it that seems appropriate not just for
the times in general, but also for when we may be feeling out of balance, unwell, unsure or out of sorts:

"...Patience does not mean to passively
endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process. What does patience mean?
It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn. Impatience means to be so shortsighted
as to not be able to see the outcome......"

Working
on our breathing gives us a chance to practice patience, since it gives us that little bit of space between "us"
and whatever "it" may be. One breath follows another, generally, and those breaths can take us out of our
impatience with whatever is happening to us, where we may spend time resisting and resenting. The breath can take you
past that into a place where you can at least see that there is a way forward, then set off in that direction.Paying attention to our breathing is one of the biggest, and simplest, things
you can do to keep yourself in synch not only with the energies of your own body, but with the multitudinous energies around
you as well. This can prevent many instances of disharmony- like "accidents", let's say- and keep us in balance
with finding not only answers, but also the real questions, too.

April 16, 2011

The plants got planted and so far everyone's happy. Russian Sage and Lamb's Quarters, plus a tomato
and a transplanted slip of a rose.

Back to
flower essences, though. Working on the energetic element of the bodily system, flower essences can effect real change.
Like any journey, moving toward balance and healing can take you places and provide insights that you never expected.
When you're travelling, at times you can suspend your everyday "eyes" and attitudes and see completely new things.Also, you can see things you've seen before in a new way.

Energetic therapies take you on that kind of journey. You have
to be willing to see what happens and let it take time. The allopathic notion of fast "cure" and bombarding
the body with one thing, or chemical, doesn't necessarily apply here. Energetic remedies such as essences work on the places where you are out of "synch", the energy
circulation of your body not flowing properly or being stuck. A gentle process of restoring balance and harmony, it
still involves a certain amount of work, we could say, on our part. The things that are causing our bodies to stay stuck,
when released, float free until the body eliminates them. In the case of old feelings and psychological structures creating
blockage, feelings arise when the energetic system is worked with, and in order to reach a higher level of balance and
harmony we have to be able to sit with these things, feel them, and let them go. My flower essence teacher said that
it isn't so much that the essences "do" something, but that they put whatever is happening in you under a microscope.
I like to think of it as a huge lens, more like a gigantic telescope, that shows you the vastness of everything, and gives
you enough distance to see where things are out of order. This then allows you to relax and, essentially, lower your
shoulders so that whatever has been burdening you and your system can drop away. It isn't that everything becomes perfect,
or that whatever your issue is gets completely resolved. That can happen, of course, over time, and it often does.
But I think the process of healing involves a lot of simply getting out of your own way so that you can see what actually
IS. The choice is yours as to whether to accept that or not, but it is still an incredible opportunity to learn, grow,
and feel better. Essences combine well with herbs and other botanical and energetic work, so that the system is nourished
and nurtured while being shifted and prompted to balance itself. There is a great journey here to be taken, and if you
approach it in the spirit of an intrepid traveler, even the difficult parts become not so bad. In the end, you look
back at where you started, and it is amazing and inspiring.

April 10, 2011

I've been thinking alot about water lately, not just because of the torrential rains we've had but of course
because of Japan, and the oceans. As we know, our bodies are largely composed of water, so the condition that water,
in general, is in is quite important for our balance and well being on every level. This is because the energies
of all these waters do, in a sense, communicate with each other through resonant energy. Resonant energy has to do with the
electrical and magnetic charges that each thing on earth has, and emits. Obviously the water you drink has an effect
on your body both resonantly and content-wise- the water you are around does too, through resonance.

Dr. Masaru Emoto has done substantial research on how water is affected
by various situations, and what can be done to repair situations in which it is corrupted, such as is currently happening
around the nuclear reactors damaged in the recent earthquake in Japan. His studies show that directed thought (or whatever
word you wish to use) has a significant impact on water. If the water is clean, it remains harmonious. If it is
polluted by something, directed thought can indeed clear it.Whether or not you accept this thesis, I myself feel quite sure it will be "proven" in time by
what we refer to now as science. Research has shown that one single person meditating in a group of individuals
can, within a relatively short span of time, harmonize and balance the breathing and blood pressure of the entire group.
There are indeed many ways we can productively influence the way our bodies function, and directed positive thought is one
of the most important.

Suppose you have a chronic
condition of some sort- if you take the time every day to calm yourself and focus directed thought on simply the positive,
the harmonious, and equilibrated, you will see a change. The waters in your body can make a difference in the state
of your body, and consistent directed positive thought can influence those waters profoundly. Positive directed thought
does not mean giving your body a direction (Get Well!) or an ultimatum (Now!), or a complaint (Why is this happening?).
It means sitting quietly and gradually getting to a calm place where you are not Doing something, but simply Being.In this state you are much more likely to have an insight about
what might be helpful for you to do. You can call this prayer, meditation, whatever you like. It is simply focussing
your mental energy on harmony. There are current studies, which I will write about further, that also show that such
directed positive thought repeated before sleep can be of great assistance to individuals with certain types of dementia,
especially when combined with massage.

Flower
essences work on this principle too, of course. The next blog will be about these ideas, but for right now, my wonderful
neighbor just brought me several herb cuttings that I must go out and plant!

February
25, 2011

Once again time is flying
by, seeming both short and long at the same time. We're getting more winter, which means more rain and snow, which we
on the west coast certainly need. Meanwhile, in the midst of the cold and dark, spring has started, little lambs
and goats are appearing, birds are building nests (in our car's engine, as it happens), and the first wild flowers have come
out. Buttercups, Shooting Stars, and a carrot family member.Energetically, the meanings of these flowers are concerned with strengthening one's core, and going within
for knowledge and light. A good thing to do this time of year, so that our thoughts can be clear at the equinox in March
when the outer light begins to increase. All these markers in time are good reminders for us to focus on what we're
doing and thinking, why, and how to continue in a harmonious and positive way. An interesting thing about equinoxes
is that the entire earth, on those days, shares the same day and night length. It can be a moment of unity with all
our fellow inhabitants of the planet- right now that seems like a good idea.

January 9, 2011

Now that we have a wood burning stove, I spend a fair amount of time looking at the shapes and colors that
dance inside it while the wood burns. I used to think that being burned "hurt" the wood, and it made me feel
sad in a way. Recently I realized something quite differentwas happening.

That something,
of course, is transformation. This is something that happens to all of us all the time, every day. I watch the
wood change, turning into glass, bursting into lavender and green flames, and there is a kind of joy emanating from it all.
In addition, it keeps me warm! A cycle continues: I stay warm, I plant more trees and plants, the movement continues.
The thing of it is in daily life, however, how we greet that transformation. In nature, things accept their transformations
in ways we are quite separate from in today's world. The transformation is part of a huge cycle; the small animal that
gets eaten by a larger predator may not be happy about it, but neither do they take offense as humans often do when things
don't go their ways. And as we all know, Things have a tendency to Not Go The Way You Want on a fairly regular basis.
When you resist transformation, it causes pain and stagnation. Things don't grow, don't move- you get stuck. This
causes a variety of issues ranging from physical problems to bad attitudes- you don't feel happy or productive or comfortable.
On some level our bodies "know" all the transformations we encounter are necessary and when we resist them
we create additional obstacles for our bodies to cope with. When transformation is encountered with a spirit of open
mind and heart, whatever happens is an opportunity for growth and learning. Easy to say, and I find, hard to do.
But think about it. Things happen to people all the time, wonderful things and bad things and painful things - all sorts
of things. About the only thing you can exert any control over is your own response to whatever it is that's happening.When you can respond with calm it ultimately transforms into a kind of
joy as things unfold. Situations may be difficult but there is always something to learn, and someplace to explore.
We may be led to the seemingly same place over and over as we go through life's changes, but if we choose to go in peace we
may find that place becomes somewhere else, somewhere we want to be, a lot sooner than it might if we always go kicking and
screaming. Not to mention the impact holding one's place in peace has on those around us. The coming times have
been said to be about service, and that makes sense to me. The focus has been rather selfish for a long time and as
a result, if you look around you can see that all of us are not doing very well. And when all of us aren't doing well,
none of us is really doing very well, either. So, in that light, consider taking a deep breath next time a challenge,
or a good thing, arises. Let it show you what it contains, and see what happens.

January 5, 2011

Another year is upon us, and this one has some special things going on, whether or not
you subscribe to the 2012 concept or not. Times are definitely changing, and we really cannot avoid being aware of these
changes, even if it is an unconscious awareness!

Healing
really amounts to being at the most harmonious place you can be in a given circumstance. For example, pain management
doesn't necessarily mean you will be completely without pain forever; it means you are in the least pain possible with the
fewest negative side effects. Often it seems that people think something outside them is going to make everything "better",
and of course a moment's reflection will tell you this is decidedly not so. The shifts and pressures in today's world
are many and varied, and many of them do take place on an energetic level- the feeling state of the planet and all the people
on it. This can lead to feelings of being unwell or stressed.Events in our own lives can do the same thing, of course. How often do we stop and think, though,
that we really do have to investigate our own inner and outer process to begin to feel "better", or even to get
a sense of what may be going on with us?

Patricia
Kaminski, my teacher and one of the founders of the Flower Essence Society, said that flower essences don't, in and of themselves,
"do" anything. They put what is going on, however, under a microscope. Each individual must then decide
whether or not they are ready to look through that microscope, whether or not they are ready to experience discomfort in the
search for balance, whether or not they are willing to discard elements of their lives that no longer serve them. This
is the actual task of healing- one example might be the recommendations for visualization and affirmations that accompany
many serious diagnoses' treatments. These are really exercises in changing how one thinks. Once the thinking changes,
everything else shifts as well. What that
shift ultimately entails is something that we, as humans, cannot know until we experience it. Since, as humans, we naturally
hope for a complete cessation of our problem or issue, these subtle shifts may not always seem "enough"; the process
can feel tremendously frustrating. Then, however, the morning you wake up and actually feel somehow different
the healing journey is off and running.

One
of the primary tasks of this year is to, in fact, shift our thinking and discard the things that don't work on every level:
from energy consumption to the state of our bodies. This means examining what we do, naturally. While it isn't
a "bad" thing, we may fear it. What is fear? Related energetically
to the kidneys, you can think of fear as being about water and how the body processes that water. So, fear can be about
not being able to process, being drowned or swept away- we fear we cannot process or understand what is going on around us,
and that we will be inundated by it. Water and emotions are inextricably linked of course, so it may also mean we fear
our feelings: can't process them, can't rise above them and swim. Our feelings may have constituents that aren't, strictly
speaking, all "ours"- in other words, things we inherit in a sense. Historical fears and family attitudes,
for example, which we assume are rock solid and unassailable even though they may not serve us well. A big first step
for these times then, is to stop oneself when that feeling of fear arises. Let it be, observe it, breathe, and see what
comes up next. While you may not be able to remain neutral viewing this information, it is worth attempting to
not blindly follow the story line the same way as always. Just look at it quietly without needing to "do"
anything "about" it. You will find that in fact there is a lot more room to cope in than you may have suspected.In that space, the world of plants and nature is uniquely suited
to support us on our journey. Which, of course, is where we come in!

December 29, 2010

Many people remarked this year on how well priced our products are. I was happy
to hear this because it is something we focus on. These creams and essences are, in my view, staples- not luxuries,
and as such need to be within reach. They last a long time and provide a good value. Sometimes it is challenging
since we only use completely organic and biodynamic ingredients, but we feel it is important for such things to be available
to people and so far we've been able to maintain our pricing throughout all the fluctuations in the economy the past many
months.

Another, somewhat related thought,
is this. Complementary, alternative therapies are a profound adjunct to western medicine. Things that soothe the
spirit and body can provide a much stronger ground for a physician to deal with, providing greatly expanded healing possibilities.
So, rather than thinking of these things as almost mutually exclusive or irrelevant to each other, consider them as tools
you can use to empower yourself and improve your chances of success!

We wish you all a peaceful, happy and positive 2011.

December 3, 2010

Yesterday we saw a small hawk circling over the chickens
next door. It presented an interesting issue. My first thought was the safety of the chickens, which have been
getting picked off by hawks pretty regularly. The hawk came down into the chicken area and the chickens totally panicked
and freaked out. The hawk, being a sensible predator, saw at a glance that there weren't any small enough birds for
it to manage, and took off.

On reflection, this presented a situation we may often encounter
in life. Something is placed in a situation that doesn't really belong there, and its presence will ultimately bring
unwanted consequences. In this case, chickens running wild in the country. Predators will find the chickens and
eat them, which is certainly an unwanted consequence to the person raising the chickens.Not
to mention the chickens. The answer might seem to be that if you do have such a situation, you have to expect some losses.
The hawk in this case has as much, or more, right to eat where he lives as a natural fact, as the chickens do to running around
where they have been placed by humans. The answer is not to destroy all hawks, but create an environment that protects
the chickens better.

What this means is that you have to pay attention to what you do, I think,
and not lash out at the surroundings of any particular situation when they do what they are naturally going to do. Balance
is possible, but you have to stay conscious.

October
1, 2010

I once read
that this was advice given someone regarding living the contemplative life: Don't overreact. Keep things in perspective.

These are words I wish I could live by a bit more than I do.
Having spent the past week fussing with first one thing and then another, I was reminded that quite often all you have to
do is really pay attention to your situation in order to find some sort of resolution. As humans we tend to REACT rather
than RESPOND, which means we can get pretty far off the deep end with opinions and anxieties and what not....far from the
steps into and out of the pool which are composed of reason and process. Right now is a good time to remember to take
as many deep breaths as it takes to get you through your day successfully! If we all make an effort to be less volatile,
reactive, opinionated, or fearful the world would probably be a much nicer place. I'm working on it.

September 17, 2010

I read an article comparing holistic and conventional medicine this week,
by Robert S. Ivker, D.O. He said something that struck me quite forcefully:

".....Holistic medicine is...bsaed on the fundamental beliefs that unconditional
love is life's most powerful healer.."

I
had to think about that for a while. There is alot of glib writing and talk about this topic, and mostly it just makes
me grit my teeth. But I think one does come to the above realization through time and work. When you are working
with a situation or a condition, something that just won't go away no matter how you try to make it do so, it is possible
to realize that there is another level of awareness and being than you might have previously thought. This can, I think,
be referred to as unconditional love. That which does not allow itself to be abused, but gives freely of itself.
The task of healing is to align oneself with that level and proceed accordingly. We are used to thinking of "cures"
with conventional medicine, but really- they don't occur all that often. Generally when someone has been "cured"
they have, in addition to conventional medicine, found another level of awareness and strength in themselves from which to
draw purpose and energy.It
may be hard to believe, but you can and indeed do receive insight and instruction about direction once you let go of the usual
mental chatter.

This does not, to my mind,
mean that you can get whatever you want by attracting it- or performing some manipulation on yourself. It means that
in order to understand what needs to be understood in this particular moment of your life, whether you have a serious illness
or trauma or whatever it may be, you have to Let Go. This is a unifying experience and not a separating one. There
isn't a hierarchy here, and no rules about who can and cannot stay or go or what they must do in general. It isn't about
punishment or reward. It is about realizing the essential unity of everything, one's part in that and how it may be
restored to the greatest possible harmonious level of functioning at the present time.I also don't think that this state of being has to be called one
thing or another. It just IS. As humans I think we inhabit these moments rather fleetingly, given the nature of
life, but it is possible to expand those moments into ever longer stretches of time, and be happy now, where we are.
This is the essence of healing, however we reach it.

When
you use plants for healing, another level is entered as well. The plant is a living, breathing entity. It has
DNA. When you use plants to help heal yourself, you are calling on a wealth of "intelligence", if you will.
The plant's construction, constituents, memory. This is why it is so important that plants be properly grown and treated.
If there is no respect between plant and grower, plant and healer, the result may well still be positive but not as powerful
as it could be otherwise. If plants
are grown purely for profit, or market control, the entire process is undermined because the thing itself is not being respected
but merely used as a means to an end. We had an example in the Garden today. We grow many plants, both for food
and for medicine, and some of them had to be harvested today. We felt a deep grief almost at this: This is our
family member, who is willing to give itself up to help us. It was quite something to experience. All this may
seem airy fairy or nonsensical. From a scientific point of view, there is proven truth to it however, and I know that
the plants we grow with all our attention and unconditional love give that back to us in their medicines.

September 15, 2010

Today's blog is a request for your help. The
U.S. House of Representatives is currently considering legislation, HR 5786, SCA 2010 (Safe Cosmetics Act). This legislation,
if enacted, would impose impossible burdens on small makers of cosmetics, such as we are, forcing us totally out of business.

Many basic cosmetic ingredients (such as fruit extracts)
would be prohibited and labelling requirements are extreme (including listing the trace elements in ALL ingredients).
Businesses will be required to register with the Federal Government, provide names, phone numbers, and addresses of all suppliers
(imagine trying to do that with an essential oil from, say, Morocco. Or Washington state, for that matter) as well as
chemical analyses of all ingredients.
When a maker uses all organic ingredients, those ingredients are certified to be what they say they are to begin with- to
retest every ingredient as this bill requires would be well beyond the resources of the average small organic producer.
Certainly it is beyond mine. This legislation would place an unmeetable duty on small cosmetic makers who cannot afford
the huge expense involved in compliance. I urge you to contact your Congressional Representative and tell them to vote
NO on this poorly written and conceived piece of legislation. Consumer protection and information are of paramount importance,
as is choice: This legislation will ensure that only the companies huge enough to have funding to meet the requirements
will be able to make products, and small organic producers will go by the wayside. This does not protect the consumer
in my opinion. Thank you for your time!

We watched the movie "The Tooth Fairy" the other night, and it reminded
me of perhaps the most important thing we can do, in general, and especially when working on healing. Know that there
is more to everything than what you "see". In the film it was about "believing", for example,
in the tooth fairy, and that things we dream of can become realities if we give it our best effort. Know that "what
if" can be powerful. What if I change my behavior? What if I keep working on this? What if I take a
chance? What if I give myself and those around me a break and come from a place of possibility instead of a place of
fear? What if, instead of one's perhaps
habitual response of, that can't be, or I can't do this or don't like this, we give ourselves a break. A moment of deep
breath and no opinions, no expectations, no judgement. A moment of possibility, of "what if.....?" Not
everything that happens to us is going to be pleasant, or what we think we want or deserve, and alot of it is going
to be painful and challenging. That is reality. But how we experience, process, and deal with it is the part we
have some control over, and that gives us huge possibilities for joy and healing even in the midst of troubles. Healing
is listening, healing is a shift beyond what we "know", to the next step whatever it may be. We don't know
what is going to happen to us, and in truth anything IS possible. Our part is to open ourselves to the grandeur of that
chance, leaving our ego at the door for a while, so we can see what will happen.

August 19, 2010

Sometimes the things we are drawn to are exactly the things we need. I observed
this last night, and it was a real learning experience for me. We have white sage smudge sticks here, and lately my
partner has been burning them every night. Last night we held them so the smoke and heat was applied (gently) around
our bodies and the soles of our feet. This morning I noticed that several things had shifted in my system, and when
I looked up sage (in THE ENERGETICS OF WESTERN HERBS, P. Holmes) I saw that this plant addresses, quite specifically, several
issues that were relevant to both of us. It was a completely intuitive selection, not with a treatment goal in mind,
that turned out to be completely on point.

The
body of knowledge about plants, phytomedicine, energetic medicine, and essential oils can seem overwhelming. It is,
of course, the study of a lifetime and one is never finished: There are always new things to learn and new awareness
around every corner. It actually makes things exciting to accept that there is an almost infinite amount of knowledge
that we can pursue, and not be limited by our fear of "not knowing". Something we are familiar with
can reveal unthought of new realms, and these realms can be accessed, quite often, by paying attention and by allowing ourselves,
in Rumi's words, to be gently drawn by the pull of what we really love. Our bodies, in an obviously greatly oversimplified
statement, are drawn to and love the things that heal them. Our job is to listen, respect ourselves and the limits having a human body entails, and respect the
power of the nature that surrounds us and is willing to help us if we ask.

August 16, 2010

I suppose I believe in many things I cannot see. Healing often takes place
on a completely unseen level, after all. We may watch a wound disappear or an illness dissipate, but do we really know
what is going on? Energetic and botanical therapies especially inhabit a space where often things are happening
on a subtle level, producing a profound result. These therapies are sometimes included in the category of Complementary
Alternative Medicine.

The immune
system, for example, is sort of like the body's "memory". Everything encountered gets filed and sorted for
relevance and possible future use. It stands to reason, then, that keeping your immune system in good working order
is quite important. It helps you to sort and eliminate things you don't really need- no hoarding. The immune system
is often dealing with abstract things like feeling states that produce reactions in the body, too, and this is where energetic
therapies can be immensely helpful. Rather than performing strong detoxifications, which often weaken the immune system
further, energetic therapies can help the body relax the grip it has on what has come in, allowing elements that are not needed
to pass through. Gentle strengthening of reflex, if you will, is something botanicals do very well.When that reflex is in balance, over time the body can heal
itself (which it is designed to do on some level) without the use of harsh purgatives or medicines. A flower essence, for
example, can address underlying issues- be they emotional or inherited- that inhibit the body from healing. Essential
oils do the same thing along with possessing many more typical "medicinal" qualities, such as being anti-viral or
anti-fungal. The balance of all the energies in the body is what helps move you forward toward well being.

All this notwithstanding, there is still an incredible amount of
controversy about whether alternative treatments such as phytomedicines, Ayurveda, and Traditional Chinese Medicine "work".
Books are written denying the efficacy of acupuncture- which, if you ask me? Time would be better put to use in other ways
than trying to prove the earth is flat.Alternative
therapies are, among other things, a mediator between an individual's needs and the one-size-fits-all treatment most
western medicine provides. Alternative treatments help the body work more efficiently, and if one is undergoing any
sort of medical therapy, it means by and large THAT therapy will work better too. Obviously there are some interaction
issues between medicines and herbs, and this is why it is important to make educated and informed decisions. An educated
and informed decision that doesn't throw the baby out with the bath water, in short. Since the sad truth is that many
physicians do not know much about alternative therapies, and in fact actively disparage them, it is my hope to provide
some helpful information here that can be of assistance in understanding how to take care of the body you have in the most
sensible way possible. Thank you for reading!

August 12, 2010

In honor of the end of our third year in this form, we're starting
a blog here at kelleyscustomcreams.com! It is named after another new thing soon to be unveiled, which is a line of
flower essences I make myself, called Travelling Garden Flower Essences. There will also be video snippets for you to
watch of things like...grass growing? Flowers blooming, bees buzzing, remedies being made....all sorts of things.Be sure to keep looking in on us.

When I began my studies of the Flowers, I of course read Dr. Bach's
books. That was quite some time ago, and recently re-reading them I was quite struck with his philosophy and how important,
simple, and correct he is about how you approach illness, discomfort, and dysfunction.

"...It is not the disease that matters- it is
the patient. It is not what the patient has. It is not the disease, so-called, that really is the important thing
to treat, because the same disease may cause different results in different people. If the effects wre always the same
in all people, it would be easy to know what the name of the diesease was, but this is not so: and this is the reason
why often in medical science, it is so difficult to give a name to the particular complaint from which the patient is suffering.
It is not the disease that is of importance, it is the patient, the way he or she is affected, which is our true guide to healing....."

from: COLLECTED WRITINGS
OF EDWARD BACH, The Wallingford Lecture

This was like a ringing bell for me, since it has been so long since I read Bach's books and honestly,
I am not sure I completely understood them at the time. But through the years of working with the flowers and other
energetic modalities, I have become more and more aware of the truth of the above statement. So often we treat a symptom,
or a "name" of an illness, and no improvement occurs. Or else there may be symptomatic improvement with another,
more serious development later on down the line. Things in the body can have myriad causes, many of which spring from
the mental, emotional, and hormonal constituents of an individual, all of which vary not only from individual to individual,
but within an individual as well, and over time.It is therefore extremely important, whether you are analzying your own condition or someone else's, to
SEE what you are LOOKING at. Take nothing for granted and make no assumptions. Observe, reflect, and then act.

Skin conditions are an excellent
example of this concept. Many of them, such as psoriasis, rosacea, or the Dread Unknown Rash, are simply not treatable
by regular medicine. Either the medicines do nothing, or they cause side effects (like antibiotics for rosacea or cortisone
for eczema) or worsening of the overall condition. The entire body and spirit must be taken into consideration in these
situations, and a person's overall health and bodily condition. Rashes can be caused by issues with the liver, gall
bladder, hormonal system, energetic blockages in the body (especially the knee area, but more about that in another blog).
It can be well worth your time in these instances to take an inventory of your overall health and condition, as well
as what you may be exposed to or ingesting, see where you may be over- or under-doing, and pay attention to what you are thinking
about. This is an essential first step in any "wellness" project. and can give you many valuable clues.
Then you are much more able to see what might be of help to you, and of course, we hope you look to us first for remedies!